Aimee Mann charms digital world en route to Northampton

Much has changed since sharp-witted singer-songwriter Aimee Mann broke onto the MTV music video scene with power pop duo ‘Til Tuesday in 1985. And if there’s any evidence look no further than Huffington Post’s “13 Funny Musicians You Should be Following on Twitter.” Mann claims the No. 5 spot.

"I've never been so happy to have four vowels in my name as when I see I am a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle!” wrote Mann, on Nov. 23.

Perhaps the people she chooses to follow are starting to rub off on her.

“I follow mostly comics,” said Mann, who started tweeting a year and a half ago. “The joke of the day tweet makes sense to me.”

On Dec. 15, she boasted, “I’ve achieved a lot in my life, but the thing I’m most proud of is roping the @mountain_goats’ John Darnielle into a poke war on Facebook.”

Unlike the rest of her media branch, which is maintained by ghost-writers and curated by public relations professionals, Twitter offers an intimate connection between the artist and her fans.

“Nobody tweets for me. I’m self tweeting,” she said.

But to Mann the concept hasn’t wholly caught on.

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"It's such a weird thing though, and it’s hard to keep up without it becoming this wave of tweets,” said Mann, who said she still has her reservations about giving her own, and getting someone else’s day-to-day thoughts.

“I’ve had ‘stalkery’ people before so you have to be careful the way you approach it.”

Thriving on technology’s cutting edge today, her relationship with the digital world hasn’t always been so symbiotic.

Seven years ago in the twilight of Napster, before popular uploading sites like Youtube, Pandora, and Spotify served streaming multimedia with the support of major labels and services like Vevo, Mann was at the forefront of the war on internet piracy, taking a firm stance in the group Artists Against Piracy.

More recently the independent artist’s political stance on illegal filesharing, though less outspoken, has found other outlets of expression. Mann guest-stars on IFC’s TV comedy “Portlandia,” taking a tongue-in-cheek shot at the difficulties of making a living as a performer in the role of the main character’s cleaning lady on the show.

Born in Virginia, Mann attended Berklee College of Music but dropped out to try her hand in the Boston music scene as the singer of 1982 punk-rock band the Young Snakes. Branching off punk-rock Mann formed the new-wave pop duo “Til Tuesday” in 1983 with then boyfriend Michael Hausman, who later managed both Mann and her future husband, Michael Penn.

In 1985, ‘Til Tuesday won the “MTV Music Video Award for Best New Artist.” The band released two albums after that before Mann embarked on her solo career. She released her first album as a solo artist in 1993 and on 1995’s “I’m With Stupid” found critical acclaim.

Mann continued to build her reputation, and in 2001 released “Two of Us” a duet with husband Michael Penn for the movie soundtrack of “I Am Sam,” which starred Michael’s brother Sean.

On Tuesday, performing at Northampton’s Iron Horse Music Hall, Mann said concert-goers can expect an early listen to songs off eighth studio album “Charmer” which she expects to see released early this summer.

One of the 14 expected tracks on the final pressing, “Labrador,” she performed last month at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, and in it explores the point-of-view of a man finally realizing it’s time to leave his crazy girlfriend.

“He has the personality of a Labrador,” said Mann of the character who keeps coming back, adding, “Once people get involved with people, they go crazy.”

But Mann, who herself has been happily married since 1987, says her songwriting nowadays is much more an exercise in the exploration of the characters she creates, amalgamations of people in a world observed from the troubadour’s time on the road, than biographical.

Of the album’s title, Mann described a convoluted sense of distrust and intrigue she holds for the charming people she encounters.

“I think charming people are interesting because they’re magnetic and fun to be around but you also feel a little manipulated because you like being around them,” said Mann.

“On the one hand people are charming because they’re just trying to get you to like them, and others you feel are manipulative and trying to get you to do something,” she said.

And despite the singer-songwriter’s allure, Mann insists she’s not the charming type, nor enamored by the type who is.